3-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ABNORMAL INTRAMURAL CORONARY-ARTERIESIN HUMAN CARDIAC ALLOGRAFT BIOPSIES

A novel abnormality of intramural coronary arteries has been recently described in allograft cardiac biopsies. Three-dimensional (3-D) model s of these abnormal arteries have now been constructed from serial his tological sections of diagnostic post-transplant endomyocardial biopsi es. These revealed that there was an interlacing meshwork of longitudi nal smooth muscle bundles in abnormal arteries. In addition, the lumen and external surface of these arteries were irregular. This contraste d with reconstructions of normal control arteries in the same sections , which were smooth and straight. This elucidation of an unusual abnor mality suggests that 3-D reconstruction of arteries in forceps biopsie s may be a useful technique.